US regulator approves limited use of malaria drugs for virus

WASHINGTON: A limited emergency-use authorization for two antimalarial drugs touted as game-changers by President Donald Trump has been issued by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat coronavirus patients.

In a statement published Sunday, the US Department of Health and Human Services detailed recent donations of medicine to a national stockpile, including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, both being investigated as potential COVID-19 treatments.

It said the FDA had allowed them "to be distributed and prescribed by doctors to hospitalized teen and adult patients with COVID-19, as appropriate, when a clinical trial is not available or feasible."

Trump said last week that the two drugs could be a "gift from God," despite scientists warning against the dangers of overhyping unproven treatments.

Many researchers including Anthony Fauci, the United States´ leading infectious disease expert, have urged the public to remain cautious until larger clinical trials validate smaller studies. Two US medical bodies -- the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority -- are currently working to plan such trials.